Asian American Studies

‘Finding Filipino’: Renowned comics artist discovered herself attending SF State

Matt Itelson — Tue, 30 May 2023 15:00:05 +0000

‘Finding Filipino’: Renowned comics artist discovered herself attending SF State

Author: Matt Itelson

May 30, 2023

Photo Credit: Rina Ayuyang

Rina Ayuyang’s new graphic novel and comic posters explore Filipino American culture and history — including on campus

One evening in the 1990s, Rina Ayuyang was passing through the Creative Arts building at San Francisco State University. In a small recital hall, she discovered a Filipino ensemble performing a ballad, “Dahil Sayo (Because of You).” She recognized the song because her parents would dance to it in the living room of her childhood home.

“I lived near campus and would walk down the halls a lot, and I’d just stumble upon things that were happening,” Ayayung recalled. “It was a very film-noir scene actually, this woman singing this Filipino romantic ballad that I just came and found myself in. And it was a very magical experience.”

It was one of the many life-changing experiences for Ayuyang at San Francisco State to influence her as a comics artist and shape her as a human being.

New graphic novel

“The Man in the McIntosh Suit” (Drawn and Quarterly, 2023) is Ayuyang’s new graphic novel, presenting a Filipino American take on the Great Depression. Mistaken identities, speakeasies and lost love intersect from strawberry farms on the Central Coast to Manilatown in San Francisco.

Kirkus Reviews writes: “Ayuyang spins a captivating tale that is both an homage to starry-eyed Hollywood movies of the period and a corrective that highlights the anti-Asian racism faced by immigrants as well as the thriving communities they formed.”

Throughout her work, Ayuyang (B.A., ’98) aims not only to increase representation of Filipino Americans in the arts, but awareness of their key roles in U.S. history.

“We always feel like we’ve come a long way, but there are still things that need to be addressed. We like to bury things in our history that aren’t as pretty,” Ayuyang said. “I feel like as an artist, we need to continue to use our platform to share ideas, motivate and inspire.”

‘Finding Filipino’ and the ‘CIA’

Ayuyang was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and chose to attend SF State because she had deep family roots in the Bay Area. She majored in Art with an emphasis in Conceptual and Information Arts, an experimental program where she says everybody made their own rules and embraced a do-it-yourself ethos that prepared her well for a career in comic arts.

“They called it the ‘CIA’,” Ayuyang said. “It was a little fun rag-tag artist operation going on. It had this grassroots feeling that felt very San Francisco, bohemian-like. It was very much my jam.”

The courses that Ayuyang took in the College of Ethnic Studies from professors such as Dan Begonia taught her about the hidden histories of Filipino farmworkers and activists in California. She met lifelong friends in the Asian American Studies Department and participated in the Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor, a student organization.

SF State has had such an impact on Ayuyang that she dedicated a comic to the University in her new poster series, “Finding Filipino.” Presented by the San Francisco Arts Commission for the Art on Market Street Poster Series, the nine posters are on display at 30 bus shelters in downtown San Francisco through June.

On the “Finding Filipino at SF State” poster, she shares her Gator story: “Here, I learned that I was more than a ‘model minority,’ that I could be an artist, a writer, an athlete — anything I wanted to be.”

Learn more about the SF State School of Art and College of Ethnic Studies.

SF State establishes Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Distinguished Endowed Chair in Nikkei Studies with landmark gift

Kent Bravo — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 17:44:28 +0000

SF State establishes Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Distinguished Endowed Chair in Nikkei Studies with landmark gift

Author: Strategic Marketing and Communications

May 1, 2024

Left to right: SF State Asian American Studies Chair Wesley Ueunten, donor Masako Takahashi and SF State Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Amy Sueyoshi, all of whom have Japanese ancestry, sign the gift agreement.

Historic $4.2M donation from the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation will advance awareness, understanding and appreciation of Japanese American experiences

SAN FRANCISCO — May 1, 2024 — San Francisco State University has received a $4.2 million gift from the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation to establish the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Distinguished Chair in Nikkei Studies. This faculty position is the first endowed chair in the University’s College of Ethnic Studies. It is also the first in the Asian American Studies department, which is the oldest and largest in the country, and is at the forefront of curriculum development used by schools and universities nationwide.

Nikkei Studies centers the history, culture and experiences of the global Japanese diaspora and its intersectional communities. The new distinguished endowed chair will focus on increasing awareness, understanding and appreciation of the historical and contemporary experiences of Japanese Americans and the worldwide Nikkei diaspora.

“With this new role, San Francisco State can play a critical part in promoting and advancing the field of Nikkei Studies,” SF State College of Ethnic Studies Dean Grace Yoo said. “We are deeply grateful for the Foundation’s generosity and for trusting San Francisco State to establish this important position for the University and broader community.”

The Distinguished Endowed Chair in Nikkei Studies will join the SF State faculty in 2025 and will:

Collaborate and exchange ideas with national and international scholars in Nikkei Studies
Lead the development of curricula and resources for teaching Nikkei Studies at the university and K-12 school levels nationwide
Further frameworks of social justice and self-determination in advancing Nikkei Studies
Promote Nikkei Studies on campus and engage with the Nikkei community in the Bay Area and beyond

“One major aspect of this position is focusing on strengthening the relationship between the University and community,” SF State Professor and Chair of Asian American Studies Wesley Ueunten said. “We want to ensure people within and outside our campus community have opportunities to engage with and learn about Nikkei Studies.”

Masako Takahashi, a San Franciso-based artist born in Utah’s Topaz Concentration Camp during World War II, is the president of the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation. The Foundation, established in 1986 by her parents Henri and Tomoye Takahashi and Tomoye’s sister, Martha Masako Suzuki, is a philanthropic leader in the Japanese American community and in fostering friendly relations with Japan through cultural and educational projects.

“When I attended the University’s last Alumni Hall of Fame celebration and heard the honorees speak, it was clear to me that SF State and its graduates show a deep commitment to supporting minorities and the marginalized,” Masako Takahashi said. “It made me feel our funding could support a good place, a place for good.”

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ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY

San Francisco State University is a public university serving students from the San Francisco Bay Area, across California and around the world, with nationally acclaimed programs that span a broad range of disciplines. More than 23,000 students enroll at the University each year, and its more than 293,000 graduates have contributed to the economic, cultural and civic fabric of San Francisco and beyond. Through them — and more than 1,800 world-class faculty members — SF State proudly embraces its legacy of academic excellence, community engagement and commitment to social justice. For more information, visit sfsu.edu.

SF State Asian American Studies professor receives prestigious CSU Wang Family Excellence Award

Kent Bravo — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 21:22:31 +0000

SF State Asian American Studies professor receives prestigious CSU Wang Family Excellence Award

Author: Strategic Marketing and Communications

January 30, 2024

Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales earns accolade for excellence in teaching, scholarship and service

San Francisco State University Asian American Studies Professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales has been honored with one of the most prestigious awards faculty can receive in the California State University (CSU) system.

Earlier today at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting, Tintiangco-Cubales was recognized as one of five winners of the Wang Family Excellence Award. Each year, the CSU recognizes four faculty and one staff member with this award for their unwavering commitment to student achievement and advancing the CSU mission through excellence in teaching, scholarship and service.

“Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales is an exemplar of student-centered pedagogy, including creative and innovative curriculum and teaching methods,” San Francisco State President Lynn Mahoney said. “Colleagues across the College of Ethnic Studies look to her teaching as a model for how to engage and innovate in the classroom — from elementary to high school students and doctoral students.”

Tintiangco-Cubales has been an SF State faculty member for over two decades, serving as a teacher-leader both on campus and off. While she has many teaching philosophies, she says her most important one is to humanize learning by seeing students as their authentic selves.

“I truly try to see each one of my students as humans. I try to see what they come in with and try to be as understanding as possible,” Tintiangco-Cubales said. “They come along with experiences, and that oftentimes means the exchange of education is back and forth. I’m not the only one with the knowledge to give them.”

That philosophy has proven to be impactful for many students, including Asian American Studies graduate student Jeanelle Daus.

“As an educator, ate Allyson allows for her students to narrate, analyze and connect their own experiences with each other and to the larger field of Asian American studies,” Daus said. (Ate means “big sister” in Tagalog.) “Through this connection, she helps me remember that I am whole and that everything I have learned is real and rooted in this reality, thus supporting me in my endeavors to create the change I wish to see within my world and my community.”

Beyond her unique teaching philosophies, Tintiangco-Cubales has achieved many other accomplishments at SF State. She developed and taught nine different undergraduate and graduate courses in Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies. She also teaches seminars in the Educational Doctoral Program and supports teaching ethnic studies each semester to more than 150 students in Step to College, a program focused on increasing the number of first-generation and historically underrepresented students who attend college.

Outside of SF State, Tintiangco-Cubales has used her expertise to transform the K – 12 ethnic studies curriculum at local, state and national levels. She has worked with districts and schools across the country to advocate for the institutionalization and implementation of ethnic studies, and to provide pedagogical and curricular development and support.

Tintiangco-Cubales received her bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies at University of California, Berkeley, and her doctorate in Education at University of California, Los Angeles.

Learn more about Asian American Studies at SF State.